News

Nike Announces Oregon Expansion

by
AP and OPB
OPB |
Dec. 10, 2012 11:12 a.m.
| Salem, Oregon

Nike is announcing plans to expand its operations in Oregon.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber’s office announced the company’s plans in a news conference on Monday and called the Legislature into session next week to create a new law promising Nike that the state’s tax code won’t change.

Kitzhaber said he’s not asking for any changes to the tax code, simply a guarantee that current corporate tax laws will stay in place.

Nike “didn’t say ‘If you don’t do this we’re gonna move,’ but they did say that they have active discussions in other states” about where the company will expand, Kitzhaber said.

He said that by guaranteeing a stable tax code, Oregon will convince Nike to invest more than $400 million in construction as part of an expansion that will result in 12,000 jobs at the Beaverton-based company by 2020.

The Legislature is due to meet in its regular annual session beginning Jan. 14.